Name:______

Mystery at the Wild Animal Park

The Wild Animal Park has hired you to solve a mystery at their park. You are part of a group of water chemists working for the county of San Diego. You have been hired by the park to solve the mystery.

Your group has two responsibilities.

  1. You have to find where the containment has been place in the San Diego Wild Animal Park.
  2. Workers at the park have already taken samples from several water areas around the park
  3. You have to neutralize the contaminant before it has a chance to harm any of the animals.

Background Information

pH is measure of acidity of a substance. Chart I gives the pH levels of some common substances. Water ecosystems are very sensitive to changes in pH. There is a delicate balance in any ecosystem that must be maintained. That is why it is so important that find the contaminant!!

The Wild Animal Park has taken samples from the five areas the school group visited. They are listed below:

Waterfowl pond

Bonsail Pavilion Pond

Elephant Pond

Savanna Lake

Stork Lake

Roles

  1. Supply Manager: Your Job is to collect the supplies for testing
  2. Recorder/Director: You must take meticulous notes and make sure everyone is following the directions.
  3. Sensor: You must use the LabQuest to measure the pH

Part I Finding the contaminant.

Lab Procedure:

  1. Supply Manager: get 5 glass jars with different water samples
  2. Recorder: label the jars with the appropriate sample areas
  3. Sensor should turn on the LabQuest device
  4. The on switch is in the upper left hand corner
  1. Sensor: turn on laptop and plug the LabQuest device into the computer using the USB cord
  2. Your user login: cosmos and your Password: cosmos
  3. The Logger Pro software should launch automatically. If not you should click the icon on your desktop
  4. Sensors plug the pH sensor into your LabQuest
  5. Supply Manager: come collect your samples (There are 5 jars so you may need to take two trips)
  6. Recorder should write down observation of the samples into Table 1. Be specific!!
  7. Sensors should place pH sensor into one of your sample.
  8. Recorder should press the small green triangle to collect a pH reading
  9. Once your pH has evened out record your pH reading on Table 1.
  10. Important: Rise your probe with distilled water after you take a reading

**Note you should make sure every group member gets a chance to use the sensor

Table 1

Sample Number / pH / Observations (sights, smells, NOT taste)

Where do you think the student dropped the contaminant? ______Why? Remember to use the data you collected to prove your point ______

Do you think the contaminant is an Acid or a Base? Why?______

______What do you think the containment might be? Why? ______

______

Where else can you imagine where you might see this type of problem happen in the real world? ______

Part II Neutralizing the Contaminant

Now that we have established where the contaminant is we need to find a way to neutralize the substance.

We are going to use our special powder (baking soda) to neutralize the contaminant that was dropped in the park.

  1. Supply manager: Come get special powder and measuring spoon from the front of the classroom
  2. Sensor: In Logger Pro hit Control D to pull up the Data Collection screen
  3. Click the box that says Continuous Data Collection (this makes sure that your data keeps collecting throughout the entire experiment)
  4. You are going to add the powder to your contaminant to try to neutralize the substance
  5. It is important that you add powered slowly or you might overshoot the pH and make the water too basic.
  6. Sensor: Place the pH sensor in the sample that your determined was the contaminated water
  7. Add a stick full of powder into your water and stir using the probe. (Do NOT stir with your stick)
  8. Mix until the water is clear again
  9. When you have a baseline reading record on Table II.
  10. Repeat this process until you have neutralized the acid. (remember you need to get as close to 7 as you can)

Scoop Number / Time / pH Reading

How many scoops did it take to neutralize the acid______

Imagine you were responsible for the cleanup. Describe what you would do first and how you would facilitate the cleanup______

______